March 8, 2022 at 1:51 p.m
Omicron wave in the pandemic: Corona infection situation in the NRW daycare centers is deteriorating
A teacher with mud protection plays with a child: In more and more daycare centers in North Rhine-Westphalia, an increase in corona cases is leading to closures. Photo: dpa/Sebastian Gollnow Dusseldorf The infection situation in child day care in North Rhine-Westphalia has deteriorated again as a result of the Omicron wave. More and more day care centers have to close completely or partially.
The number of children and daycare workers who were reported to have had a corona infection rose by around 20 percent in February compared to the previous month. This emerges from the latest data from the NRW Family Ministry on the reporting situation in the state’s daycare centers. The number of infections among daycare children has been increasing since November and among employees since December 2021. According to preliminary figures from the state youth welfare offices, an increase of more than 18 percent compared to the previous month was reported for daycare children in February – a total of almost 31,000 infected children. The number of employees even rose by almost 22 percent to almost 18,300 infected people. According to the tables, on an average working day in February, almost 190 facilities in NRW were partially closed (January: 156) and another 53 were completely closed (January: 57). Once a week, the Ministry for Family Affairs surveys the around 10,600 day-care centers that are subsidized as well as the 186 youth welfare offices for child day-care. In the ninth calendar week (February 28 to March 6), around 44 percent of the subsidized daycare centers took part in the survey and around 63 percent of the youth welfare offices. According to your information, the use of child day care in the past few weeks has been relatively constant at around 70 percent – in the ninth calendar week a good 73 percent.
“There can no longer be any talk of regular operation,” commented SPD MP Dennis Maelzer on the figures. Now families should be relieved and daycare fees should be suspended immediately. “The staff in early childhood education also deserve a corona bonus,” he demanded. About twelve percent of the staff are now infected. The result is daycare closures, limited opening hours and overworked staff. (top/dpa)
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